Wicked Fantasy

Dai Court

Population: ~150,000 (elves)

Ruler: Queen Maevaelia

The Elven Court closest to the Reign of Men is the Dai Court, otherwise known as the Winter Court, the Frosted Kiss, the Inevitable Clutch. Ruled by Queen Maevaelia (known to men as “Queen Maev,” her Deep Forest is green covered in perpetual frost. Flowers bloom, trees grow, plants thrive, but all chilled with a thin layer of ice.

Men typically avoid Queen Maev’s lands. Those who enter without permission are either found frozen or never seen again. Those who do return shiver for the rest of their lives, chattering their teeth even when sitting next to a fire. There are a few—a precious few—who enter Queen Maev’s lands with the proper respect (and fear) who return unharmed. Unharmed, but not unchanged.

Queen Maev, the Undying Rose of Winter, would see the Reign of Men done away with. Their meddling and lumbering have cost her many friends and lovers. Men do not care for the Great Trees and would cut them down to make a table or a mug: symbols of their wretched laziness and worthless debauchery. She has never taken a human lover, although the number of her elven lovers is uncountable. “The winter night is no kind companion,” she is known to say. “So I must seek companionship elsewhere.”

Typical elves of the Dai Court appear tall and pale. Their skin seems perpetually glistening. Their eyes are ice blue and their hair snowy white. They speak slowly and deliberately. “Winter has patience,” they are known to say. “The summer ends swiftly enough.”